Romo’s back, but Cowboys are no match for Panthers
So Tony Romo is back and all is right in Dallas.
The Panthers will come to Big D and leave with a Big L — their first after 10 straight wins — and the Cowboys will be on their way to a seven-game winning streak to close the schedule. Don’t buy it.
Romo made plenty of big plays at Miami last Sunday. He also showed plenty of rust.
Yes, he’s a vast improvement over the guys who lost seven in a row with Romo sidelined by a broken collarbone. But these Cowboys (3-7) aren’t all that good, and these Panthers are.
The Panthers are one-point favourites over Dallas, which actually opened as a favourite, perhaps thanks to all the giddy Cowboys fans seeing their season’s ‘saviour’ back on the field and putting their money down on their team.
Panthers coach Ron Rivera found that “a little disrespectful.”
“Apparently, they know something we don’t, so we’re just going to prepare and get ourselves ready to play,” Rivera said. “We’ll show up.”
Should be a fun game, and close. That strong Carolina defence will make the difference. Our pick: Panthers, 24-20. New Orleans (plus 3) at Houston: Texans’ defence is rolling, and will make Drew Brees uncomfortable all day. Best bet: Texans, 27-20. Minnesota (plus 2) at Atlanta: Vikings have won three straight on road. Make it four. Upset special: Vikings, 21-20. Philadelphia (minus 2) at Detroit, Thursday: Maybe a road trip will help ailing Eagles. We don’t think so. Lions, 23-20. Chicago (plus 9) at Green Bay, Thursday: Packers don’t need extra incentive vs. archrivals, but will get it anyway from Brett Favre ceremony. Packers, 29-17. New England (minus 5) at Denver: Patriots’ unbeaten run won’t end on holiday weekend, either. Patriots, 23-21. St. Louis (plus 9½) at Cincinnati: Bengals need a turnaround game after mini-slump. Cincy should get it against punchless Rams. Bengals, 24-10. Pittsburgh (plus 5) at Seattle: Both of these teams should find a way into playoffs despite key injuries. Seahawks, 24-20. Tampa Bay (plus 3) at Indianapolis: Both teams have straightened out some problems. Matt Hasselbeck moves to 4-0 as starter. Colts, 2321. Arizona (minus 10) at San Francisco: The Cardinals can sometimes make things hard on themselves. But not in this one. Cardinals, 3110. New York Giants (minus 1) at Washington: Giants are a .500 team, which probably will be good enough in NFC East. Giants, 30-27. Buffalo (plus 5) at Kansas City: Could be defensive struggle, which also can be very entertaining. Chiefs, 17-13. Miami (plus 3½) at New York Jets: Could be defensive struggle, and not very entertaining one. Jets, 16-13. Oakland (minus 1½) at Tennessee: Titans are awful at home. Raiders have been awful everywhere recently, but will wake up. Raiders, 20-16. San Diego (plus 3½) at Jacksonville: Chargers are just a shell of team that began season. Top overall draft pick might be in their future. Jaguars, 27-21. Baltimore (plus 2) at Cleveland: AFC North dregs, and Ravens have more injury excuses. Browns, 1714. 2015 record: against spread: week 7-5-2, season (80-68-5). Straight up: week 10-4, season (97-63) Best bet: 5-5-1 against spread, 7-4 straight up. Upset special: 6-5 against spread, 3-8 straight up.